The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus for processing and storing image data. More particularly, the present invention relates to the transfer of image data between, e.g., a semiconductor memory, hard disk or similar storage built in an image processing apparatus and a storing device using a CD (Compact Disk) or similar storing medium.
Generally, an electronic filing apparatus, digital copier or similar image input/output apparatus includes an external storage that allows a recording medium to be removably mounted thereto. The recording medium is mainly implemented by a magnetooptical disk or an optical disk. An internal storage built in the apparatus is capable of storing image data representative of document images and output from, e.g., a scanner. When the image data are transferred from the internal storage to the external storage, a transfer system is essential that takes account of the capacity of the external storage capable of dealing with the total number of files and the limited number of times of writing particular to, e.g., a CD-R (Compact Disk-Recordable) or a CD-RW (CD ReWritable). A transfer system disregarding such limitations would cause image data to be written to the storing medium randomly, making the medium unusable due to the limited number of times of writing.
Further, when image data are transferred from the external storage to the internal storage, the following problem is given rise to. Usually, the internal storage does not have a capacity great enough to store mass image data. Moreover, the internal storage is implemented by a memory of the type allowing a plurality of write accesses to occur at the same time in the event of the storage of document image data or the processing of images. It follows that the transfer of mass image data from the external storage to the built-in storage fails.